Apollo 7

Occurred 56 years ago

The first crewed flight of the Apollo program.

Mission Type

Crewed Orbital Flight

astronauts

Walter Schirra Jr., R. Walter Cunningham, Donn F. Eisele

Launch

Oct. 11, 1968

SPLASHDOWN

Oct. 22, 1968

Prelaunch view of the Apollo 7 rocket — S68-29781 (22 April 1968) — Low angle view at the Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 34 showing the erection of the first stage of the Saturn 205 launch vehicle. The two-stage Saturn IB will be the launch vehicle for the first unmanned Apollo space mission, Apollo 7 (Spacecraft 101/Saturn 205).
NASA

Three Apollo crewmembers in spacesuits without helmets on deck of ship — The prime crew of the first manned Apollo space mission, Apollo 7, stands on the deck of the NASA Motor Vessel Retriever after suiting up for water egress training in the Gulf of Mexico. Left to right are astronauts R. Walter Cunningham, Donn F. Eisele and Walter M. “Wally” Schirra Jr.
NASA

The Apollo 7 S-IVB third stage, used as a rendezvous target
NASA

Featured Story

About Apollo 7, the First Crewed Apollo Space Mission

“The Walt, Wally and Donn Show…” Mission Objectives Demonstrate Command and Service Module (CSM) with crew performance; demonstrate mission support facilities’…

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Walter M. Schirra, Jr.

Commander

Captain Walter M. Schirra, Jr. was one of the first seven NASA astronauts named in April 1959. He was the only astronaut to have flown to space on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft, logging a total of 295 hours and 15 minutes in space.

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Walter M. Schirra, Jr. is seen in the foreground in this photo from water egress training for the first crewed Apollo mission.

The prime crew of the first manned Apollo mission (Spacecraft 101/Saturn 205) is seen in Apollo Command Module Boilerplate 1102 during water egress training in the Gulf of Mexico. In foreground is astronaut Walter M. Schirra Jr., in center is astronaut Donn F. Eisele, and in background is astronaut Walter Cunningham. (5 Aug. 1968)

NASA

Apollo 7

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2 min read

Following their nearly flawless mission, Apollo 7 astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F. Eisele, and R. Walter Cunningham received many accolades for their historic accomplishment. President Lyndon B. Johnson, a long-time supporter of the nation’s space program, invited the…

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6 min read

Apollo 7, with astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F. Eisele, and R. Walter Cunningham aboard, splashed down on October 22, 1968, ending a highly successful engineering test flight. The landing occurred in the Atlantic Ocean, southeast of Bermuda. All…

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5 min read

Apollo 7 astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F. Eisele, and R. Walter Cunningham continued their historic Earth orbital mission to thoroughly test the Apollo spacecraft and its systems. Throughout the flight, Mission Control passed up daily news reports to…

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4 min read

The Apollo 7 crew of Walter M. Schirra, Donn F. Eisele, and R. Walter Cunningham spent a very busy first day in space, starting with their launch from Cape Kennedy on October 11, 1968, returning Americans to space for the…

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3 min read

On Oct. 11, 1968, NASA launched its first crewed Apollo mission, which paved the way for the moon landing less than a year later. The Apollo 7 crew was commanded by Wally Schirra, with Command Module Pilot Donn Eisele, and Lunar Module Pilot Walt Cunningham.…

Article

5 min read

Americans were in space again for the first time in nearly 22 months. After months of preparation, Apollo 7, with Walter “Wally” M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F. Eisele, and R. Walter “Walt” Cunningham aboard, thundered off Launch Complex 34 at Cape…

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